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Edmonton Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk makes a save on a Chicago Blackhawks shot during the second period of an NHL hockey game on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles)
Author: The Hockey News

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CHICAGO - The Chicago Blackhawks were sloppy on defence at times Sunday night. The struggling Edmonton Oilers struggled even more in their own zone and it cost them against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Marcus Kruger scored the tiebreaking goal with 8:16 left in the third period, Duncan Keith added a power-play goal 1:55 later and the Blackhawks beat Edmonton 5-4 for their third straight victory.

"We're happy to get wins and get points, but we always want to keep getting better, take positives from every game," Keith said.

Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Blackhawks (12-2-4), who are 6-0-1 in their last seven games.

Kruger was alone at the edge of the crease when he took a pass from Ben Smith off the boards, turned and wrapped the puck past Devan Dubnyk to put Chicago ahead 4-3.

Keith added his first of the season on a screened shot from the point. It turned out to be the game-winner because Jordan Eberle scored short-handed for the Oilers on a deflection of Nick Schultz's point shot with 1:28 remaining.

"We make a few more mistakes against these guys than we should," Keith said. "They're able to capitalize."

Edmonton also got an even-strength goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and power-play scores from Nail Yakupov and David Perron, but lost its third straight and fifth in six games. Sam Gagner missed on a second-period penalty shot.

Chicago goalie Corey Crawford made 19 saves, while Dubnyk had 31.

"Their power play ignited their offence tonight," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "But still, it was one of those games where we stuck with it, which was important, and found a way to win against a team that enjoys playing against us and has some success against us."

The Oilers were 1-1-1 against the Blackhawks last season.

"We tend to get out of our game playing against them," Saad said. "We started slow, but we bounced back and finished the game well."

The Oilers entered with the NHL's worst goals-against average (3.83) after allowing 48 goals in their first 18 games. The Blackhawks came in averaging 3.47 goals, second only to San Jose, and had scored 27 in their last six games.

Defensive zone breakdowns doomed the Oilers in this one. The Blackhawks scored four even-strength goals when one of their players was left wide open near the net. Keith's power-play goal through a screen was the only exception.

"That's missed coverage, and missed coverage by some of our veteran players, which is concerning to me," Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins said. "If you can't defend in this league, you're not going to win.

"Tonight we had flashes of very good D-zone coverage and then we had some flashes of just total unawareness of what was going on behind us," he added. "We're losing individual responsibilities in our D-zone and it's killing us."

Chicago defenceman Michal Rozsival left with just more than 4 minutes left after being hit in the face with a puck, but Quenneville said he would be OK.

Both teams and goalies played their second game in two days. The Blackhawks won 5-2 at Dallas on Saturday night, and the Oilers lost 4-2 at Philadelphia in an afternoon game.

Saad scored the only goal of a sluggish first period with 1:37 left.

Edmonton's Philip Larsen got a stick on Brandon Pirri's centring attempt from the left side of the net, but the puck popped into the air and landed in the slot. Saad drove to the net between two Oilers defenders and put a shot into the lower left corner.

Nugent-Hopkins tied it 54 seconds into the second period on a quick shot that fooled Crawford high on the stick side. After taking Perron's feed, Nugent-Hopkins turned and in one motion whipped a shot into the upper left corner.

Gagner was awarded a penalty shot at 4:13 after Brent Seabrook hooked him from behind on a breakaway. On his attempt, Gagner lost control of the puck and slid it wide right after several quick moves in close.

Yakupov's power-play goal at 8:55 put Edmonton ahead 2-1. Set up by Larsen, Yakupov ripped a one-timer from the top of the right circle past Crawford's glove.

The Blackhawks picked up the pace, tested Dubnyk and tied it at 2 with 2:42 left in the period when Shaw capitalized on another Oilers coverage breakdown.

Saad powered into the Edmonton zone with the puck, but was steered aside by Anton Belov and Larsen. Shaw snuck in behind the play, took Saad's pass and scored on a wrist shot from inside the hashmarks.

Bickell gave Chicago a 3-2 lead at 5:33 of the third when he was left alone at the edge of the crease and stuffed in a rebound of Rozsival's drive from the blue line.

Perron's power-play goal 2:25 later, on a deflection of Larsen's shot from the point, tied it at 3.

NOTES: Gagner is 0 for 2 on penalty shots in his career. ... The Oilers finished 1-3-0 on their road trip. ... Chicago C Michal Handzus missed his eighth game with an upper-body and is still "one or two weeks" from returning, according to Quenneville. ... Veteran G Ilya Bryzgalov, signed by Edmonton to a reported $2 million, one-year deal on Friday, is expected to join Oklahoma City of the AHL for a conditioning stint. He hasn't played an NHL game since April. ... Edmonton LW Luke Gazdic (shoulder) sat out. He was injured Saturday in Philadelphia.

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ECHL defenseman Anthony Calabrese is “lucky to be alive” after a “careless, reckless” hit, and Tyler Murovich, who delivered the blow, has been given a 12-game suspension as a first-time offender.

There are few plays scarier than seeing a player hit from behind and sent headfirst into the boards. That kind of play is made that much harder to watch when knowing the severity of the injury suffered.

During an ECHL contest on Nov. 24 between the Norfolk Admirals and Atlanta Gladiators, ECHL veteran Tyler Murovich delivered an incredibly dangerous shove to the back of Anthony Calabrese, a 24-year-old defenseman who’s only 12 games into his ECHL career.

The result of the hit was frightening. Calabrese was left laying face down on the ice, near motionless. The Admirals rearguard would eventually be placed on a stretcher, taken from the ice and transported to hospital.

That may seem harsh to some given that Murovich is a first-time offender, but given the severity of Calabrese’s injury, it actually seems like a somewhat light punishment.

As a result of the hit, Calabrese suffered broken C7 and T1 vertebrae. In simpler terms, he broke both his neck and his back. Oh, and he also punctured his lung. In fact, Calabrese told The Virginian-Pilot’s Jim Hodges that doctors told the young center that he’s “lucky to be alive.”

“It was a miracle, and they say I’m going to make a full recovery,” Calabrese told Hodges. “It’s going to be a long road, but I’d rather be alive than be in a wheelchair the rest of my life.”

What helped Calabrese escape with his life, he told Hodges, was advice he had gotten early in his career from a high school coach. Calabrese was taught that if he was ever going into the boards head first to lift his chin and turn to the side in an attempt to avoid taking the brunt of the impact with the top of his head.

“That’s honestly the only thing that registered in my mind when I was going in: at the last minute, pick my head up,” Calabrese told Hodges. “I remember picking my head up and turning it to the right.”

Thankfully, doctors told Calabrese that he can eventually return to the ice and that the injuries suffered from the hit won’t cost him his career. His spinal cord, he told Hodges, wasn’t damaged due to the hit. And, as hard as it may be to believe, doctors said it was the “best possible break” in a situation such as Calabrese’s.

Holland had been left in Toronto as the Maple Leafs opened a three-game western road trip in late November and has not suited up for the Leafs since Nov. 26. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound forward was a healthy scratch in 17 of the Leafs first 25 games this season.

In eight games, Holland has one assist and a minus-2 rating while averaging 10:43 in ice time a night. Holland is on a one-year, $1.3 million contract this season, and according to CapFriendly, is owed $881,111 for the remainder of the season.

"Peter is a big, solid centerman with good NHL experience," Coyotes general manager John Chayka said in a statement. "We look forward to having him join our team."

Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in November 2013, the Caledon, Ontario native appeared in 174 games with the Leafs, over parts of four seasons, scoring 25 goals and 63 points.

The 25-year-old also played a role in the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies reaching a seventh game of the conference finals during the 2014 Calder Cup playoffs.

For the Leafs, the move gives general manager Lou Lamoriello another contract spot to work with. Prior to the deal, Toronto had 48 contracts – two shy of the maximum of 50.

Friday’s move gives the Leafs the flexibility to sign goaltender Karri Ramo to a contract for the remainder of the season. The 30-year-old signed a professional tryout with the Marlies on Tuesday and made 33 saves in 3-2 loss to the Utica Comets on Wednesday night.

Since waiving goaltender Jhonas Enroth on Tuesday, and assigning him to the Marlies, the Leafs are looking for a suitable veteran presence behind Frederik Andersen and Ramo could fill the void.

The trade with the Coyotes also gives Lamoriello roster flexibility to activate forward Josh Leivo off non-roster injury reserve. Leivo has yet to play this season due to a lower body injury. The 23-year-old played five games with the Marlies earlier in the season as part of a conditioning assignment, but was deemed not ready to return to NHL action with the Leafs.

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Passion drives Boston College coach Jerry York to go old school

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Passion drives Boston College coach Jerry York to go old school

Faced with the prospect of not being able to fly to a game this weekend, Jerry York wasn't about to let that stop him from coaching Boston College.

Back in the late 1970s, Jerry York was the youngest coach in the nation. Now he’s the second oldest, behind Red Berenson, who turned 77 yesterday. York is in his 45th season behind the bench of a Division I team and he’s coached a mind-boggling 1,740 games. He’s won 1,025 of them, which is exactly 100 ahead of Ron Mason, who’s No. 2 on the all-time wins list. He’s guided five national championship teams and put countless players in the NHL, from Hall of Famer Rob Blake to current NHLers such as Johnny Gaudreau, Cory Schneider, Brian Boyle and Patrick Eaves.

In other words, he had perhaps earned the right to sit this one out. The 71-year-old dean of Division I hockey could have told associate coach Greg Brown to take the bench for one night. But faced with the prospect of not being able to fly to South Bend, Ind., to coach his Boston College Eagles against Notre Dame Saturday night because he’s recovering from surgery to repair a detached retina, York instead went old school for the 900-mile, 18-hour journey.

While the rest of the team chartered out of Boston Friday afternoon for a 90-minute flight, York had his director of hockey operations, John Hegarty, drive him to Albany Thursday afternoon. From there, York hopped an Amtrak train bound for South Bend that got in at about 8:30 Friday morning. And the most stunning thing about all of this is that York did this coach one game, not a weekend series. In fact, he figures Saturday night’s game will go until about 10 p.m., which means he’ll be able to take an Uber from the Compton Family Ice Arena to catch the midnight train that will let him retrace his steps, meaning he should get back to Boston sometime Sunday evening.

York missed six games early in the season while he was recovering from the surgery, but wasn’t about to sit any more out. So there he’ll be Saturday night, behind the Eagles bench, sporting an eye-patch and trying to help his team improve on its 8-0-1 record in Hockey East. It’s already the best start of any team in league history, but that’s not what is motivating him. It’s the passion for coaching that still drives him.

“All I need is a parrot on my right shoulder and I’ll be a buccaneer,” York said. “I think for me, this was a telltale sign that I still want to do this, that I have the passion to do it. This was a key indicator, if I didn’t want to do it I think that would be telling me something. I see Red Berenson at coaching conferences and we both like golf and other things, but I’d still rather be coaching than doing anything else. I love being behind the bench and I love tying up my skates at 2:30 every day.”

And York has a lot to be excited about this season. Despite losing seven players to the NHL from last year’s team, the Eagles have been a Hockey East juggernaut this season. Despite losing seven underclassmen to the NHL, the Eagles are the top team in their league and with an overall record of 13-5-1 has them the No. 4-ranked team in the nation. They’re second in the NCAA in goals scored with 71 and their goal differential of plus-30 is No. 1 in the nation.

“We have 13 freshmen this year,” York said. “That’s a lot of new guys. We were prepared to lose maybe three guys (to the NHL), but we got surprised and we had to scramble. We had to almost rebuild the whole program.”

It has helped that freshman Joe Woll, a third-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has more than filled the void left by Demko. The 6-foot-4, 202-pound native of St. Louis has been the team’s backbone and a large reason why the Eagles have given up only nine first-period goals in 19 games this season. They’re also outscoring their opponents 28-12 in the second period. The Eagles are led offensively by a small, skilled kid by the name of Gaudreau from New Jersey, just as they were two years ago. Matthew Gaudreau, whose brother Johnny won the Hobey Baker Award with the Eagles three years ago and turned pro with the Calgary Flames, leads the team with 6-16-22 totals in 19 games.

“This isn’t the most talented team I’ve ever had,” York said, “but it’s the most enjoyable for me to coach in a long time.”

The game against Notre Dame will be the last before the holidays. That means York won’t have to get on a plane until a trip to Pittsburgh after Christmas. He sees his doctor Dec. 23 and hopes to be cleared to fly after that. If not, he’ll likely be on the train to Pittsburgh because he’s not about to let a long travel day keep him from behind the bench.

“It’s not in my fabric,” he said of the prospect of missing games. “I feel just like Punch Imlach.”

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Connor McDavid didn’t mince his words when asked post-game about Brandon Manning. He called the Flyers defenseman “classless” and said Manning admitted to injuring him on purpose.

Connor McDavid has had no shortage of head-to-head battles with young stars in the game. There has been outings against Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and more than handful per year against the Flames duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

But of all the players Connor McDavid could have had an on-ice feud with, it seems Brandon Manning is the first real rival for the Oilers phenom.

One might recall that it was during the early part of the 2015-16 campaign that Manning, a Philadelphia Flyers blueliner, got tangled up with McDavid as he looked to break in on goal, resulting in McDavid making hard contact with the boards behind the net. The impact with the boards saw McDavid break his collarbone and led to a 37-game absence for the then-rookie.

It was believed to be an unintentional act, something that simply happened as part of the game, and McDavid had even absolved Manning of any blame. That was until last night, more than 13 months after the Nov. 3, 2015 injury to McDavid..

During the Oilers’ hard-fought 6-5 defeat at the hands of the Flyers, McDavid was seen verbally jousting with Manning on a couple of occasions. The most obvious case came after a power play goal by McDavid, where he was seen skating towards Manning and shouting something in his direction.

It didn’t end there, though. Post-game, the Oilers captain went in on Manning, calling the hit that led to the broken collarbone an intentional act.

"I did all I could defending him last year in the media," McDavid said. "Everyone wanted to make a big deal saying he did it on purpose, and he wanted to say some comments today about what went on last year. I thought it was one of the [most] classless things I've ever seen on the ice. He said some things and our guys responded accordingly. I guess we can put the whole 'if he did it on purpose' thing to rest because what he said out there kind of confirmed that. Shows what kind of guy he is when he doesn’t step up and fight some of our guys.”

Shortly after McDavid commented on the incident, Manning fired back saying that he would “never intentionally hurt someone,” and added that’s not the way he plays.

"Anybody who knows me, I play a hard game,” Manning said, according to NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman. “That's the reason I'm here, that's the way I'm in the NHL. I'm not here to score goals like some of those guys. I think I play an honest game, and anyone who knows me knows I play hard and stuff happens out there."